Category Archives: Travel

The 23 Psalm

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 10th October 2017

Tweet I kept repeating the 4th verse of the 23rd Psalm as I made my 28 hour journey from Montreal to Lubbock. I’ve complained about the airlines before, so this brief post will just list the lowlights of my trip. We were supposed to return from vacation on a chartered flight. It never showed. We…

Harvey House – Slaton Texas

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 13th July 2015

Tweet Fred Harvey (1835-1901) was a London born American entrepreneur who is best known for the Harvey Houses he established alongside of railroads in the American southwest. Beginning with the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, he established a chain of restaurants that continued for more than half a century after his death. The chain was…

Dutch Tulips

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 1st June 2014

Tweet In April we went to the Netherlands in search of the country’s fabled tulips. Luck was with us and we got there at the precise peak of the tulip season. We stayed in Amsterdam at the Conservatorium Hotel. The hotel is only a few years old and was built inside the walls of the…

Clelia II in Trouble

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 12th December 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaij7J0Xvnc]

Tweet I recently wrote a four part article about the Clelia II. It was an account of it’s trip to Greenland. It’s in the Antarctic now where it got into trouble earlier this year. Well, it did it again. Fortunately it escaped it’s newest predicament without serious harm to its passengers.

Greenland to Toronto – The Clelia II

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 11th September 2010

Tweet Below are a few additional thoughts about the Greenland to Toronto trip described in earlier posts. The Ship The 4000 ton Clelia II was built in 1990. It was one of Renaissance Cruises small ships. After the demise of that line it was a private yacht and was often chartered. It currently is one…

Greenland to Toronto – Part 3

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 7th September 2010

Tweet On Friday August 20 the Clelia II anchored at Hebron, Labrador. It is the site of an abandoned Moravian mission. The history of the settlement is not a happy one. Founded in 1831 the mission disbanded in 1959. The health and living conditions of the native occupants were not good. In a lose lose…

Greenland to Toronto – Part 2

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 4th September 2010

Tweet On Monday, August 16, the Clelia II was in the ice fjord near Ilulissat – aka Disko Bay. Fog is very common here at this time of year; but we were lucky. The sky was clear, the wind calm, and the temperature around 50. In other words, the weather was as good as it…

Greenland to Toronto Aboard the Clelia II

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 31st August 2010

Tweet [All photos in this and subsequent posts about this trip were taken by me unless otherwise indicated.] For some reason that has fled like vigor I decided to go to Greenland. I stumbled across a listing for the small ship, the Clelia II, that offered at trip from Toronto to Greenland and one in…

Terrorism and Healthcare Reform

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 29th December 2009

Tweet The recent attempt to blow up a US airplane as it was about to land in Detroit may not seem to have much connection to healthcare reform, but on reflection the relationship is proximate and interesting. The would be underwear bomber was known to the federal bureaucrats charged with protecting us from what is…

How to Get off a Plane Stuck on the Tarmac

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 28th October 2009

Tweet About 400,000 airline passengers a year get stuck on the tarmac for three hours or more. This counts only domestic flights. Congress has been debating a Passenger’s Bill of Rights since before Abraham was circumcised. The airlines have an infinity of reasons against its enactment. The gruesome details can be read here. As should…

About Neil Kurtzman

Neil A Kurtzman MD is the Grover E Murray Professor Emeritus and University Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of Internal Medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock. He has combined careers in clinical medicine, education, basic research, and administration for more than 30 years.